Case Study Description of "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A)
The president of the Belgian consumer goods subsidiary of a large American conglomerate thought he had inherited a loyal, lean, efficient, and capable management team to help him accelerate the growth and profitability of the decades-old, moderately successful subsidiary. Yet after six months in his current position, not much had improved. Financial performance had not regressed-just not expanded or accelerated.
Swot Analysis of ""Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A)" written by Mark E. Haskins includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Regressed Disagrees facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, Performance measurement and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Regressed Disagrees, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Regressed Disagrees operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Regressed Disagrees
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Regressed Disagrees
Strengths "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Regressed Disagrees in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Regressed Disagrees are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Regressed Disagrees has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Regressed Disagrees is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Regressed Disagrees in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Regressed Disagrees is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Regressed Disagrees has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Regressed Disagrees is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Regressed Disagrees has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Regressed Disagrees to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Regressed Disagrees in the sector have low bargaining power. "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Regressed Disagrees to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Regressed Disagrees is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– Regressed Disagrees is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Mark E. Haskins can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Organizational Resilience of Regressed Disagrees
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Regressed Disagrees does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Regressed Disagrees has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Weaknesses "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Regressed Disagrees is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Regressed Disagrees needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Regressed Disagrees to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Regressed Disagrees is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Regressed Disagrees products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Regressed Disagrees needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Regressed Disagrees has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Regressed Disagrees supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Regressed Disagrees vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Regressed Disagrees has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Mark E. Haskins suggests that, Regressed Disagrees is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Regressed Disagrees, firm in the HBR case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A), is just above the industry average. Regressed Disagrees needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Regressed Disagrees has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Regressed Disagrees has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Opportunities "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) are -
Loyalty marketing
– Regressed Disagrees has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Regressed Disagrees to increase its market reach. Regressed Disagrees will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Regressed Disagrees can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Regressed Disagrees can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Regressed Disagrees can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Regressed Disagrees to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Regressed Disagrees has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Regressed Disagrees to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) case study. Regressed Disagrees can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Regressed Disagrees has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Regressed Disagrees to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Regressed Disagrees is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Regressed Disagrees to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Regressed Disagrees can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Regressed Disagrees can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Regressed Disagrees can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Regressed Disagrees to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Regressed Disagrees to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Regressed Disagrees high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Regressed Disagrees can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Regressed Disagrees will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Regressed Disagrees.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Regressed Disagrees needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Regressed Disagrees business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A), Regressed Disagrees may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Regressed Disagrees in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Regressed Disagrees demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Regressed Disagrees needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Regressed Disagrees can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Regressed Disagrees is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Regressed Disagrees needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of "Nobody Ever Disagrees" (A) is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Regressed Disagrees needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.